Refrigerator with a separate insulated compartment provided with a drain pipe

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a refrigerator, which according to the invention contains at least one separate, thermally well-insulated and cooled compartment ( 5 ) with a drain pipe ( 10 ) for draining from the compartment ( 5 ) condensation-water formed during the cooling down of a hot receptacle ( 11 ) placed in the compartment ( 5 ).

[0001] The present invention relates to a refrigerator.

[0002] In connection with cooking it often occurs that heated food hasto be cooled down and placed in a refrigerator as soon as possible inorder to avoid deterioration of cooked food.

[0003] This is usually carried out such, that the hot receptacle inwhich the food has been cooked, or a receptacle to which the cooked, hotfood has been transferred, is placed in cold water to be cooled down toa temperature permitting the receptacle to be placed in a refrigeratorwithout exposing the food kept in the refrigerator to warming or to beaffected by condensed damp. During colder seasons the receptacle may, ofcourse, as an alternative, be placed out-doors to be cooled down.

[0004] A number of inconveniences are obvious with a procedure likethat. A receptacle with food in a water-bath may be forgotten and willquite soon assume room-temperature followed by the risk of growth ofbacterial content in the food contained in the receptacle. Placingout-doors is an impractical emergency solution that may result in thereceptacle being forgotten till next day with an increasing out-doortemperature. Further, it may possibly occur that the food is cooked byan early eating family member and is left on the table to be consumedlater by family members that are more delayed than planned, in whichcase the food possibly may have become uneatable.

[0005] The object of the invention is to achieve a practical andefficient solution of the mentioned problem.

[0006] This is made possible, according to the invention, by equippingthe interior space of the refrigerator with at least one separate,thermally well-insulated and cooled compartment with a drain pipe fordraining of condensation-water from the compartment. Hence, it ispossible to place a warm food receptacle or container in the compartmentwithout affecting the food in the other part of the refrigerator. Due tothe heat introduced into the compartment a heavy condensation of dampoccurs initially in the compartment, which is drained in the form ofcondensation-water through a drain pipe in a manner known per se. Thecompartment should suitably contain a support surface that can stand theheat from the warm receptacle placed in the compartment. To initiallyreduce the cooling down time the compartment may also suitably contain aholder for fixedly holding at least one temporarily introduced freezepack.

[0007] The invention is more closely clarified in the following withreference to the attached drawing, which schematically discloses asexample an embodiment of a refrigerator according to the invention,which on the drawing is shown from the front with a completely openeddoor.

[0008] The shown refrigerator is essentially a conventional compressorrefrigerator with a cabinet 1 containing insulation. A compressor 2 isdriving a cooling circuit comprising a first evaporator 3 in the usualinterior space, and a second evaporator 4 in a separate storagecompartment 5 provided with an efficient thermal insulation 6 in thewalls of the compartment towards the other part of the refrigerator. Thestorage compartment 5 has a heat resistant bottom surface 7 with grooves8 sloping down towards an opening 9 for collecting arisingcondensation-water, that is drained through a pipe 10 connected to theopening, which pipe is arranged to drain the condensate in the usual wayto the top of the compressor for evaporation of the condensate by theheat generated by the compressor and its drive motor. A receptacle 11 isplaced on the bottom surface 7 for being cooled down. The condenserforming a part of the cooling-circuit is as usual placed at the rearwall of the refrigerator and is not shown on the drawing.

[0009] When no receptacle is placed in the compartment 5 it can, ofcourse, be utilized in the same way as the rest of the space in therefrigerator for storage of food. When a receptacle has to be cooled itis placed in the compartment 5 which, if necessary, has to be cleared byrearrangement of food. When the door of the refrigerator is closed alsothe compartment 5 becomes closed, resulting in that the receptacle iscooled to the usual refrigerator temperature at the same time ascondensate is formed, that is drained through the pipe 10.

[0010] The invention is, of course, not limited to the embodiment shownand described here but may be modified in various ways within the scopeof the invention defined by the patent claims. Hence, the refrigeratormay be operated with another type of cooling process, and an improvedinitial cooling may be achieved by introduction of at least one frozenfreeze pack 12, which may be inserted in a holding device 13 forinstance in the roof of the compartment 5. The compartment 5 may also asan alternative be designed to be closed by a separate door.

1. A refrigerator, characterized in that the interior space comprises atleast one separate, thermally well-insulated and cooled compartment (5)with a drain pipe (10) for draining from the compartmentcondensation-water formed during the cooling down of a hot receptacleplaced in the compartment (5).
 2. A refrigerator according to claim 1,characterized in that a placing surface (7) in the separate compartment(5) has a heat-resistant surface.
 3. A refrigerator according to claim 1or 2, characterized in that the separate compartment (5) contains aholder (13) for fixedly holding at least one temporarily introduced,frozen freeze pack (12).